The decision came at an emergency meeting of the alliance’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Riyadh, attended by the foreign and defence ministers of all three countries plus their military chiefs, including Pakistan’s Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the committee would move immediately to practical implementation of the collective-defence commitments, providing agreed forces and capabilities for rapid deployment under approved national legal frameworks.
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman said the three countries had activated collective deterrence measures against the attacks and those responsible. The pact, signed August 7, 2026, declares an attack on one member an attack on all — a NATO-style Article 5 for the Gulf — and its activation had been delayed while Turkey and Pakistan positioned themselves as mediators in the wider US-Israel war on Iran.
The trigger was escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi targets, including claimed strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery at Rabigh and an airbase, though Riyadh did not officially confirm the specific claims. The three governments also named retired Pakistani Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmud as the alliance’s first secretary general for a three-year term, giving the pact a permanent military structure.
The activation landed hours after Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces launched a counteroffensive claiming to have retaken the Red Sea port of Mocha and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It also followed the European Commission’s separate October 6 disbursement of €1.24 billion for Ukrainian drones and missiles, covered in this edition’s infra-deals beat — a reminder that formal military blocs and defence-industrial money are moving in parallel across both theaters.